Capital Nations, Elementally (2) Quiz

Answer: Thorium

Bangkok (or Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, which is part of its ceremonial name that runs to 168 letters) is the capital and also largest city of Thailand. Thailand has a 2-digit country code of TH which ties in with the chemical symbol for Thorium, namely Th. Thailand does produce modest amounts of thorium, which is radioactive.

In fact the radiation from thorium-232 is one of the main factors contributing to the Earth's internal heat.

Answer: Beryllium

The City of Brussels is the capital of Belgium as well as the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Region. The Walloon Region (centre of the third main language grouping) lies a short distance to the south. The capital is also the administrative centre of the European Union. Belgium (country code: BE) itself gained independence in 1830 following the Belgian Revolution.

Beryllium (chemical symbol: Be) with an atomic number of 4, is a relatively rare element found in such gems as aquamarine and emerald. It is also toxic when inhaled as dust.

Answer: Mendelevium

Formerly called Kishinev, Chișinău is the capital and largest city in the land-locked country of Moldova (country code: MD). Its territory has waxed and waned with the involvement of the Ottoman Empire, Russian Empire and Soviet Union. The last adjustment took place in 1991 with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. There is still the unresolved issue of the 1990 break-away state of the Transnistria.

Mendelevium (chemical symbol: Md) is a synthetic element and takes its name from the Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev. The half-lives of the main isotopes range from between an hour or so to a few days.

Answer: Copper

Havana is capital of Cuba (country code: CU) which is matched to the chemical element copper (chemical symbol: Cu) in this quiz. The largest city in the country, it was established by the Spanish colonial empire in 1519. It is a port city which was of strategic importance to the Spanish. It was designated a city in 1592.

Cuba was also the location of the oldest New World copper mine, namely Cobra mine which was operated on and off between 1544 and 1998 producing an estimated 3 million tonnes of ore.

Answer: Neptunium

Nepal (symbol: NP) is linked to the chemical element neptunium. Kathmandu is the largest city and capital of the country. The location has been continuously inhabited since the 2nd century. The city takes its name from a building that stood in Kathmandu Durbar Square until 2015 when it was destroyed by an earthquake. It has since been rebuilt.

The radioactive metal neptunium was only discovered in 1939. It is named after the planet. Most neptunium is produced artificially in nuclear reactions and is used as a precursor in plutonium-238 production.

Answer: Platinum

Portugal's capital (and largest city) is Lisbon, with the location being occupied continuously since Phoenician times. The source of the name is not verified although there are theories. The 2-digit country code is PT which is matched to the chemical symbol for platinum. Platinum-group metals are normally obtained as a by-product of copper and nickel mining and processing.

While Portugal produces copper, it is not a significant producer of platinum.

Answer: Iridium

Tehran is the largest city in Iran as well as being the country's capital. Iran (country code: IR) used to be known as Persia. First unified in the 7th century BC, it saw early development of writing, agriculture, religion and urbanisation.

Iridium is the matching chemical element. It is a hard, corrosion-resistant metal in the platinum group. It finds uses in high-performance spark plugs and in catalytic compounds. Meteorites have a much higher abundance of iridium than in the Earth's crust. The unusually high levels of iridium at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary supports the asteroid impact hypothesis for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Answer: Aluminium

Tirana is the capital of and largest city in the country of Albania. After World War II the country was under the leadership of Enver Hoxha until his death in 1985. In this period Albania had close ties with the Soviet Union until the Albanian-Soviet split during the period 1956-61. One of the legacies of the Hoxha era is a network of concrete military bunkers throughout the country - in excess of 170,000 of them (about 6 per sq km / 15 per sq mi) - which were built in the period 1967-86.

The element matching the country code is aluminium (symbol: Al). A light-weight metal, it is the third most common element in the Earth's crust (after oxygen and silicon). Bauxite, from which aluminium is extracted, has been mined in Albania in the past.

Answer: Lithium

The Principality of Liechtenstein is a European microstate sitting between Austria and Switzerland. It extends to 160 sq km (62 sq mi) and has a population of around 40,000. Its capital is Vaduz, a town on the river Rhine, and one of the few capitals in the world not to have an airport.

Although there is a regulatory framework for it, there is little (if any) mining in Liechtenstein itself. Mining companies are formed under the country's laws more for business reasons. So most of the matching chemical element Lithium (symbol: Li) will probably be found being driven around the country in battery-powered electric vehicles.

Answer: Curium

The Central African country of Cameroon (CM) has Yaoundé as its capital. Second largest city in the country, its name reflects the French colonial period although it was founded by German explorers at the end of the 19th century. France took over following Germany's defeat in World War I and named it as the capital.

The chemical element matching the country code is curium, a synthetic element named after the French chemists Marie and Pierre Curie (Marie was Polish-born and naturalised-French). Both of them suffered from extensive doses of radiation during the course of their research. Even now, Marie Curie's cookbooks are radioactive.